Beckbacca's Tank

Beckbacca · Sep 12, 2017

Here is my first attempt at a build thread. Tank is from AGE. 114" long, 36" wide, 24.75 " high. Steel bracing and stand, powder coated black. The tank has a coast to coast weir, taking up 6 inches of width. This allowed me to push the tank flush to the wall, and conceal plumbing behind the tank at the same time, without losing water volume.... more to follow...

Attached are pics of tank and stand design/ dimensions.

revhtree · Sep 12, 2017

Looking like a great start!

scobeyra · Sep 12, 2017

Subscribed. Looking forward to seeing this come together!

Beckbacca · Sep 13, 2017

Thanks guys... here is a picture of the tank when first put into the house. It took seven guys to move this beast. In hind sight, i do not recommend the cinder block method, as it got quite wobbly towards the end.

The left side of the stand is seperated from the rest to have a dry area for all electronics and storage of dry goods.

Beckbacca · Sep 13, 2017

Here is the sump. I got this from synergy reef. I believe it is 89 gallons. Smoke colored acrylic, 4 socks, Refugium, slimmer area and return. This sump came with built in probe holders, adjustable baffles, and built in led lighting. I also got a matching 10 gallon ato container from them, though maybe I should have gone bigger. My plumbing is 3x 1.5 inch drain lines, and 2x 1 inch return lines. 1 picture is of the sump lit, though it's hard to see in this lighting. Also I added two frags to the tank....

Beckbacca · Sep 13, 2017

I have had two dedicated electric lines with gfci added to the equipment area of the stand, and am going to have one more dedicated line added above the tank for the lights. I got the electrical service upgraded yesterday to 200 amps, and added a backup generator by Generac. This think is 27k of power. Enough to run everything in my house twice over probably, lol. I am now just waiting on the utility company to run the gas line to my house, which should happen soon. Here is a picture of a huge bush I cut out to make room for the generator, and a pic of the generator from our den window.

hatfielj · Sep 13, 2017

Holy cow that tank is a beast. Love the stand. Keep the pics coming. Cant wait to see it full.

Beckbacca · Sep 13, 2017

And this post should get us caught up. This is how the tank sits today. My father in law is a carpenter and he is helping me skin the stand. My wife and I really liked reclaimed wood, so that is the look we are going for. The tank goes from floor to ceiling, and after we do all of the molding, this will feel like a part of the home. Hoping to finish the stand this weekend, and the plumbing. Tonight I am going to do rockwork. All of my rock was soaked in bleach, then fresh water, and then left in the sun for a month to bake. I am going to scape dry. Let me know your thoughts! I will also start posting some of the equipment tonight, as I have already got everything I need, at least I hope so because I have spent quite a bit already lol.

Beckbacca · Sep 13, 2017

hatfielj said:
Holy cow that tank is a beast. Love the stand. Keep the pics coming. Cant wait to see it full.

Thanks hatfielj! It is way bigger than my last tank, a Red Sea reefer 525. I also intentionally made the stand very tall, as I do most of my staring while standing. You will notice in the pic of my standing in front of the tank, the glass comes right up even with my eye line, I did that on purpose.

MarylandTang · Sep 13, 2017

Are you planning on putting an Apex powerbar over the back of the tank? That orange mount looks familiar.... If so, are you not worried about splashing or falling?

Beckbacca · Sep 13, 2017

MarylandTang said:
Are you planning on putting an Apex powerbar over the back of the tank? That orange mount looks familiar.... If so, are you not worried about splashing or falling?

Yes it's for the apex power bar, for my lights. I was planning on making a box around it to keep it splash proof. I don't see how it could fall off the wall, but I will put some thought into making it extra secure. Thanks for the input .)

BMMMW · Sep 14, 2017

Wow, definitely keeping an eye on this one.

MarylandTang · Sep 14, 2017

Beckbacca said:
Yes it's for the apex power bar, for my lights. I was planning on making a box around it to keep it splash proof. I don't see how it could fall off the wall, but I will put some thought into making it extra secure. Thanks for the input .)

I have the same Apex and mount, and let's just say that it's not 100% secure. Very close, but if it falls and there is water right below, you might have a concern. Hopefully it's behind the tank enough or there is something you can cover any open water with.

Blue Carbon Reefing · Sep 15, 2017

This is going to be an amazing build! I love the dimensions.

There are a couple of things that come to mind in planning so far. One, do you know how much water would back siphon in event of a power outage or GFI trips? Is the sump big enough for that? Based on your drawing from the first post if your tank drains 7 inches (bottom of overflow) that is 124 Gallons of water. Maybe some check valves on the drain lines will prevent the water from back flowing in a power outage or GFI outlet trips. You also have the generator as a back to keep pumps running so you don't have to worry about it. However, those things can fail. So just some thoughts to plan for in the build/plumbing part.

Two, I only see one power outlet on the wall. If you have all of your equipment (probably multiple power strips) all plugged into one plug on the wall are you afraid you are going to over draw on that one outlet and keep tripping a fuse? I am not a electrician so I don't know if this is a concern or not. Just another thing I noticed so far.

Tell us more about the plans for the tank. What kind of livestock are you planning on keeping? What kind of equipment are you planning on running?

I am following along for sure!

Beckbacca · Sep 15, 2017

MarylandTang said:
I have the same Apex and mount, and let's just say that it's not 100% secure. Very close, but if it falls and there is water right below, you might have a concern. Hopefully it's behind the tank enough or there is something you can cover any open water with.

Thanks MarylandTang for the input. I will make sure it has secondary measures to prevent it from ever falling in the water. I will most likely build a wooden box around it. More on this to come later in the build.

Beckbacca · Sep 15, 2017

Blue Carbon Reefing said:
This is going to be an amazing build! I love the dimensions.

There are a couple of things that come to mind in planning so far. One, do you know how much water would back siphon in event of a power outage or GFI trips? Is the sump big enough for that? Based on your drawing from the first post if your tank drains 7 inches (bottom of overflow) that is 124 Gallons of water. Maybe some check valves on the drain lines will prevent the water from back flowing in a power outage or GFI outlet trips. You also have the generator as a back to keep pumps running so you don't have to worry about it. However, those things can fail. So just some thoughts to plan for in the build/plumbing part.

Two, I only see one power outlet on the wall. If you have all of your equipment (probably multiple power strips) all plugged into one plug on the wall are you afraid you are going to over draw on that one outlet and keep tripping a fuse? I am not a electrician so I don't know if this is a concern or not. Just another thing I noticed so far.

Tell us more about the plans for the tank. What kind of livestock are you planning on keeping? What kind of equipment are you planning on running?

I am following along for sure!

Hi Blue Carbon Reefing, thanks for stopping by! When planning the tank with the tank manufacturer he seemed to think I would be good to go with this size of sump, but I am now going to double check everything with your advice. One thing to not, that first drawing is actually the tank as seen from the top. The overflow weir's actually only drop down about 2 inches from the top of the tank. I will take a picture tonight to show this better.

The power outlet you see up top is just for the lights. Inside of the stand, in the dry electronics compartment, I have two more dedicated GFCI outlets installed, and each one will have its own APEX powerbar. (I have a total of 3 APEX power bars for this tank.)

As far as general plans, this will be my first attempt at keeping SPS, so I kept the rockwork a tad on the lower side to leave room for vertical growth. I will take some pics of the rockwork tonight after I tweak it a bit more. This will be a mixed reef tank, SPS/LPS/Zoas. For fish, I have a decent amount in my quarantine tanks right now. I have 2 ocelaris clown fish, 7x Sunshine Chromis, 3x Lemon Chromis, 3x Lyrtail Anthias, 1 Bluespot Jawfish, 4 Sunshine Chromis, 1 yellow belly blue tang. I am hoping to have a lot of different little schools of fish, wrasses, tangs. My favorite tangs are the purple tang, powder blue tang, and chevron (at least when it is a juvenile.) Of course I am open to suggestions!

Blue Carbon Reefing · Sep 15, 2017

Beckbacca said:
Hi Blue Carbon Reefing, thanks for stopping by! When planning the tank with the tank manufacturer he seemed to think I would be good to go with this size of sump, but I am now going to double check everything with your advice. One thing to not, that first drawing is actually the tank as seen from the top. The overflow weir's actually only drop down about 2 inches from the top of the tank. I will take a picture tonight to show this better.

The power outlet you see up top is just for the lights. Inside of the stand, in the dry electronics compartment, I have two more dedicated GFCI outlets installed, and each one will have its own APEX powerbar. (I have a total of 3 APEX power bars for this tank.)

As far as general plans, this will be my first attempt at keeping SPS, so I kept the rockwork a tad on the lower side to leave room for vertical growth. I will take some pics of the rockwork tonight after I tweak it a bit more. This will be a mixed reef tank, SPS/LPS/Zoas. For fish, I have a decent amount in my quarantine tanks right now. I have 2 ocelaris clown fish, 7x Sunshine Chromis, 3x Lemon Chromis, 3x Lyrtail Anthias, 1 Bluespot Jawfish, 4 Sunshine Chromis, 1 yellow belly blue tang. I am hoping to have a lot of different little schools of fish, wrasses, tangs. My favorite tangs are the purple tang, powder blue tang, and chevron (at least when it is a juvenile.) Of course I am open to suggestions!

I was definitely looking at it wrong. A 2 inch drop in water would be about 36 Gallons. Sounds like Electrical is well thought out too. Can't wait to see more! Keep the pictures coming!

Beckbacca · Sep 15, 2017

Blue Carbon Reefing said:
I was definitely looking at it wrong. A 2 inch drop in water would be about 36 Gallons. Sounds like Electrical is well thought out too. Can't wait to see more! Keep the pictures coming!

I will have more pics tonight

I also have check valves for my return line, so hopefully I will not be flooding the sump. I will make sure to test it once I get the water in as well. I am also going to be building a wooden box around the sump which will be silicone together, then painted with kilz. This will be a secondary measure to hold water temporarily in the event of a sump flood/ over fill for whatever reason. I have flood detectors for the APEX, and also a separate flood detector unit as well that connects to my vivint home security system. I am trying to build in a lot of redundancies here. I dont want 500 gallons of water on my floor, lol.